Drier-felt stretcher



April 1 1924. 1,488,929

D. L. MCCORKINDALE DRIER FELT STRETCHER Filed *June 23, 1923 13 MM 7 ATTORNEY.

FIRE- DUNCAN L. MGCGFZKINDALE,

BREEZE-FLEET Application filed. June 23, 1923.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LDUnoAN L. McConnn new, a citizen of t-he'United States of America, and a resident of Holyoke, in the county of l-lampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful DrierlTelt Stretcher, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic drier-felt stretchers for paperinalring machines, and consists essentially of suitable guice members attached to opposite sides of the frame of a paper-making machine, guide blocks slidingrly arranged in said members and :torn'iing bearings for the shaft of a stretcher roll, suitably journaled shaft having winding drums and a ratchetwheel secured thereon, cables or chains attached to said blocks and drums, and a weighted lever loosely inountetL on said. lsstnamed shaft, and provided with a s ringpresscd detent or dog to engage said ratchetwhecl, together with such other parts and members as may be nec ssary or desirable in order to render the stretcher serviceable in every respect, all ashercinatter set torth.

The drier feltof a paper-making machine expands and contracts more or less under changing weather conditions, and stretches under the stress incident to use, but in spite cl such variations said "felt must be kept taut at all times, and the primary object 01"? my invention is to provide compi'rratively simple and inexpensive means or mechanism for exerting aconstant pressure or tension on the felt, which tension is suiiicient to keep the felt taut by taking up the slack therein, and of a nature that yields whenever the felt contracts, such mechanism being applicable to practically any paper-making machine.

A further object is to furnish a stretcher of this character with readily adjustable means, whereby the stretcher is rendered capable of taking care of an amount of slack in the drier felt in excess of that which said stretcher otherwise would be capable of tak- 1 in the course of the following description.

restate 0F HDELYOKE, lvIASSACI-IUSETTS.

STIR-ETOHER.

Serial No. 647,318.

attain the objects and secure the advan tages of my invention by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a side elevation of an intermediate sectional partof a paper-making machine equipped with a drier-felt stretcher which embodies a practical form of my in vention, a fragmentary portion of the machine fraine being broken out to disclose to better advantage certain parts of said stretcher; Fig. 2, a cross section through said sectional part of said machine and said stretcher looking toward the right in Fig. l, and, Fig. 3, an enlarged top plan of one of the euide'eleinents of the stretcher.

Similar reference characters designate similar parts throughout the several views.

The ordinary type of paper-making ma chine comprises a long frame carrying a se s of drier drums, sets of felt-guide rolls and paper-carrying rolls associated with each of such drums, and drier felt which passes over said felt-guide rolls and under said drums, all constructed, arranged, and o erating' the usual and well-known manner. Of such a machine I have shown traginentary' portions of the sides of the frame, generally designated by the numerall, two drier {ruins 2, two pairs of felt-guide rolls 3, we pairs of paper-carrying rolls hand a portion ofa drier telt 5. The felt 5 passes over the left-hand roll 3 in the leithand pair, down under the associated drum Q, up over the other roll 3 in such pair, forward tojtiie left-hand roll 3 in the right-hand pair, down under the right-hand drum 2, up over the right-hand roll 3 in said last-named pair, and forward again, and my tightener is applied to the porion of saidv felt which is between the twointermediate of the four rolls My invention includes astretcher roll 6, and such roll isapplied to the aforesaid portion of the felt 5 from above, and such portion is usually drawn downwardly by said two rolls S of which mention has just been made. In other words. the slack in the felt 5 is taken care of by my stretcher at the place roll to a greater or less extent between the designated above It maybe noted in pass- I v ing' that the paper, which is carried forward withthe assistance of the felt 5, spans the space where the stretching or tightening takes place, because said paper is there carried on the two intermediate of the four rolls 4;. The roll 6 is, of course, parallel with the other rolls.

The tightener roll (5 is mounted on a shalt 7, and such shaft is journaled in blocks 88. The blocks 8 must be slidingly supported vertically, and to this end suitable vertical guides are provided. These guides, which are fastened to or might be inteoral with the sides of the frame, naturally will vary more or less in size and shape to meet the conditions and be capable of attachment to different styles of frames, but in the main such guides are generally similar. The ,rguides here shown and described are designated by the numeral 9. Each guide 9 has at the base two oppositely-directsd arms or wings 10, and above said wings two oppositely-directed arms or wings 11, the upper wings being shorter than the lower wings, and all of said wings projecting beyond the outer face of the main portion of the guide in order to provide space or clearance between said main portion and the sideot the frame 1 to which the wings are directly attached, and between the wings in each pair, for th accommodation or a vertical chain or cable The cahl 13 is attached at the top to a horizontal bolt 14 that passes through a pair of ears or lugs 12 on the outer side of each block 8, such bolted at l5-15 to one side of the frame 1,

and the wings 1.1 are bolted at 16-16 to said side at points above those where are bolted said wings 10. There is a vertical slot 17 in each guide 9 for one of the blocks 8, and eX- tending inwardly from the sides o'l such slot are two vertical ribs 18 which are received in corresponding grooves in the block in said slot, as best shown in Fig. 3. Thus it is seen that the blocks 8 can move freely up and down in the slots 17 without becominp; displaced.

T re bolts 14: are parallel with the outer sides of the blocks 8, and a nut 19 may be provided to hold each of said bolts in place in the lugs 12.

A horizontal winding shaft 20 is journaled in bearings 21-21 whicn are secured to the floor upon which the frame 1 rests, one of said bearings being; inside of what may be termed the back side or" said frame, and the other of said bearings being; inside of what may be termed the front side of said frame. Two winding drums 22 are secured on the shaft 20 and located by said shaft, which latter is parallel with the drums 2 and rolls 3 and 4, with the righthand ends of the horizontal diameters of said windingdrums in the vertical plane of outer races of the body portions of said guides, to the drums upon which latter said cables are wound and to wnich they are securely attached.

The forward terminal. of

y; 21, and l is a lever The lever 23 is bifurcated at the termial which is moured on the shaft 20, and secured to said sin. a between the fork arms of said lever is a ratchet-wheel 2 1:. The lever extends to the ri "ht from the shalt 20, and a counterweigh n5 is slidingrly arranged on said lever at the free terminal thereof. The upper edge of the lever 23 may be serrated, as at 26, and the top of the pas through the counterweight 25 which receives said lever may be similarly serrated, if desired, in order to provide means whereby said counterwei 'ht is prevented from accidentally slipping or moving on said lever alter the former has been adjusted on the latter. The aforesaid passage in the coun rweight 25 is of suf icient depth to pern t said counterweight to be raised with out the lever 23 to the extent required to disengage the serrated coun :weight to be adjusted on the lever. The power exerted by the lever 23 is, of course, increased by moving; the counterweight 25 nearer to the free end of said lever and decreased by moving; said counterv-xeie'ht l artoer away from such end.

A detent or dog 27 is pivotally connected t 28 to the lever 23 between the fork arms hereof. and said dog at the free end enthe teeth of the ratchet-wheel 24. A spi ing' 29 is arranged between the fork arms of the lever 23 to bear against the bottom edge of the dog" 27, for the purpose presently to be explained.

The extreme forward end of the shaft 20, in front of the lever 23, is made angular in cross-section to form a head 30 which is adapted to be received in or engaged by a wrench.

The dog is so constructed, arranged, and located that said dog at its free end fills the space between two of the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 24;, with the top of such end in approximately the plane which connects the axes of the shaft 20 and the pivot 28, consequently there is normally no independ. cut movement between said dog and ratchetwheel and the two latter lock the lever 23 to said shaft. The ratchet-Wheel and dog provide, however, for readjustment of the lever parts and permit the 23 on the shaft 20, or movement of said lever on said shaft while the latter is held stationary. Thus, by applying a wrench to the h ad 30 and holding the shaft 20 against rotation, the lever 23 can be swung upwardly on said shaft, the dog 27 then snapping past the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 24 as said dog is carried upwardly with said lever, the

spring 29 yielding for this purpose,while at the same time preventingthe dog from swinging downwardly to an extent that would completely disengage it from said ratchet-wheel. After the required adjustment has been made the dog 27 is left in engagement with different teeth from those with which it was previously engaged, unless the adjustment involved a complete revolution. of the ratchet-wheel. In making the adjustment, the lever 23 is swung upwardly while the shaft 20 is held stationary, then said shaft is released and said lever swung downwardly, with the result that a partial revolution is imparted to said shaft and the drums 22. and more of the cables 13 are wound on said drums, thus shortening said cables and rendering the stretcher capable once more of normal action.

In practice, the weighted lever 23 tends constantly to actuate the shaft 20 in the direction to wind th cables 13 on the drums 22v and thus draw down the blocks 8 and with them the roll 6. The force thus exerted on the roll 6 is applied through said roll to the felt 5, which travels beneath said roll, and thus takes the slack out of said felt and keeps the same tant. in the eventthe felt 5 confloor, the shaft. 20 is held against rotation by its head 30, and said lever is swung upwardly on said shaft to cause the dog 27 to make a fresh. engagement with the ratchetwheel 24, and then said lever is rocked downwardly again, thus winding more of the cables 13 onto the drums 22, as previously explained, the operation being repeated as often as may be necessary in order to take care of the slack which would occur in the cables 13 and felt 5 if said lever were permitted to touch thefloor. Ordinarily the parts are so adjusted that the lever 23 is disposed in an approximately horizontal position. i

The ratchet-wheel 242 and the dog 27 constitute locking means between the shaft 20 and the lever 23 for the latter.

This stretcher may be practically used in inverted position, but in such case the weight of the stretcher roll and other parts is lost as an effective medium applied to the felt, and the counterweight must be heavy enough to carry felt.

' More or less change in the shape, size, construction, and arrangement of some or all of the parts of this stretcher, in addition to such weight as well as to stretch the those hereinbefore specifically pointed out, may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention or exceeding the scope of what is claimed.

I am aware that various counterweighted appliances have been previously employed for stretching drier felts, and do not, therefore, seek to claim broadly such an appliance.

What I do claim as my invention, and de sire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in a drier-felt stretcher, with the frame and drier felt of a papermahing machine, said frame being provided with fixed and movable guiding means, of a stretcher roll for said felt, said roll being journaled in the movable guiding means, a suitably journaled shaft, winding drums secured to said shaft, flexible members between said movable guidinghneans and said drums, and a weighted lever loosely mounted on and locked to said shaft. 1

2. The combination, in a drier-felt stretcher, with the frame and drier felt of a papermalting machine, of removable guides attached to said frame, bearing members slidingly connected with said guides, a stretcher roll for said felt having a'shaft which is journaled in said bearing members, a suitably journaled winding shaft, drums secured to said shaft, flexible members attached to said members and to said drums, and a weighted lever mounted on and locked to said winding shaft. 7

The combination, in a drier-felt stretcher, with the frame and drier felt of a paperwinding shaft, drums secured to said wind- 7 ing shaft, flexible members attached to said blocks and to said drums and a weighted lever mounted on and locked to said winding shaft.

i. The combination, in a drier-felt stretcher, with the frame and drier felt of a paper-making machine, of guides having wings which are bolted to the sides of said frame, said wings being so constructed that the body portions of said guides are remotely supported relative to said frame sides, bearing members slidingly connected with said guides, and provided with attaching means in the space between said body portions and said sides, stretcher roll for said felt having a shaft which is journaled in said bearing members, a suitably journaled' winding shaft, drums secured to said w1nding shaft, flexible members between sait bearing members and said drums, and a weighted lever locked to said winding shaft.

5. The combination, in a drier-felt stretcher, with the fr; inc and drier felt paper-making machine, of slotted guides having wings which are bolted to the sides of said frame, said wings being so constructed that the main body portions of said guides are remotely supported relative to said frame sides, blocks slidingly arranged in the slots in said guides, and provided with lugs which end into the spaces be tween said body portions and said frame sides, bolts carried by said lugs, a stretcher roll for the felt having a shaft iournaled in said blocks, a suitably iournaled winding shaft, drums secured to said shaft, flexible members attached to said bolts and to said drums, and a weighted lever locked to said winding shaft.

6. The combination, in a drier-felt stretcher, with the frame and drier felt of paper-making machine, said frame being provided with. fixed and movable guiding means, of a stretcher roll for said felt having a shaft journaled in said movable guiding means, a suitably journaled winding shaft, drums secured to said shaft, flexible members attached to said movable guiding means and to said drums, a weighted lever mounted on said winding shaft, and ad justable locking means between said lever and said winding vshaft.

7. The combination, in a drier-felt stretcher, with the frame and drier felt of a paper-making machine, said frame being provided with fixed and movable guiding means, of a stretcher roll having a shaft journaled in said movable guiding means, a suitably journaled winding shaft, drums and a ratchet-wheel secured to said winding shaft, flexible members attached to said movable guiding means and to said drums, a weighted lever loosely mounted on said winding shaft, and a dog pivotally connec'iec with said lever and adapted to engage sa1d atchet-wheel, the construction and arrangement of parts being such that normally said dog locks said lever to said winding shaft, through the medium of said ratchet-wheel, but is capable, when said winding shaft is held against rotation and said lever is swung upwardly, of passing over the ratchet-wheel teeth and making a fresh engagement therewith.

8. A drier-felt stretcher comprising guides which are attachable to the frame of a papeamalring machine, bearing members for sliding connection with said guides, a stretcher roll for the felt of such machine, said roll being mounted on a shaft which is designed to be journaled in said bearing members, a winding shaft and bearings therefor, drums secured to said winding shaft, flexible members adapted to be attached to said bearing members and to said drums, a weighted lever mounted on said winding shaft, and adjustable means to look said lever to said winding shaft.

9. A drier-felt stretcher comprising guides which are attachable to the frame of a paper-making machine, bearing members for sliding connection with said guides, a stretcher roll for the felt of such machine, said roll being mounted on a shaft which is designed to be jour. aled in said bearing members, a winding shaft and bearings therefor, drums and a ratchet-wheel secured to said. winding shaft, a weighted lever loosely mounted on said winding shaft, and a dog pivotally connected with said lever and adapted to engage said ratchet-wheel, said dog normally locking said lever to said winding shaft, through the medium of said ratchet-wheel, but capable of being moved to make a new engagement with said ratchet-wheel.

DUNCAN L. MOCORKINDALE.

Witnesses:

F. A. CUTTER,

C. C. WEST. 

